Past and the Present
by HeyILoveYouDoYouLoveMe
Summary: Tris and Tobias decide to move to Nova Scotia, Canada, to start a new, fresh life. Little did they know, it is not that easy to escape your past. Post Insurgent Tobias/Tris fluff! Please don't run away, review before you leave! I love you all (: Please R&R! Thanks!
1. The Ceilidh

Tris grunted yet again as her shovel sank into the cold, wet snow that settled on the wooden porch of her house.

Her boyfriend, Tobias, exited the cute, brick cottage and chuckled at her appearance.

Tris had on a large parka, big enough for a small whale, heavy duty mittens, a toque and what looked like several layers of pants. Tobias wore nothing but rubber boots, a sweater and jeans.

"Sixty centimeters of snow doesn't shovel itself, you know," Tris had said intensively. She eyed how relaxed Tobias looked; his hands in his pocket and he was leaning against the railing.

"I've never seen snow like this," He said, using his bare hands as he picked up a clump. "It's so … fluffy. And light." He tossed it to his girlfriend, who of course, failed to catch it. The snowball settled itself in the knot of her downy scarf that clung to her neck. Tris rolled her eyes and continued shoveling, her fragile arms struggling under each load.

"Let me," Tobias said finally. Tris didn't even pretend to feel grateful. She shoved the aluminum shovel into Tobias' warm, firm hands and dashed into the door of the cottage, or her 'sturdy lean-to' as Tobias called it.

The couple moved to Nova Scotia, Canada in the summer.

"This is not what I had expected," Tris had said, unzipping her jacket to feel the cool breeze against her neck. It was twenty degrees out. She felt amazed.

"I was expecting snow and ice," Tobias had said as he took a look out the Halifax airport window to have his first glimpse of Canada.

They got into a shuttle, who was going to take them to the car dealer, where they had purchased a car on the internet.

The dealer handed them the keys to their new Chevrolet Silverado as Tobias handed him a wad of cash. This was all new to him; in the factions everything was supplied.

But they didn't belong to the factions anymore.

When they arrived to the small town of Ingonish on the island of Cape Breton, they were amazed at its beauty.

The way the rocks overlapped the sand mesmerized them. They weren't allowed to swim in the factions, so they loved the look of the waves crashing against children's ankles. Kayaks and canoes and fishing boats dotted the horizon with a delicate touch.

They had gotten used to the smell of cigarette smoke when they passed the fisherman's wharf on their daily walks. The smell of the smoke and fish guts mixed together repulsed them, but slowly, their noses adjusted.

But now it was winter, and not lovely July anymore. Snow had fallen and children played. Snowplows had made banks and cars rumbled behind them.

As Tobias shoveled the deck, he barely noticed a black pickup truck make its way towards the little cabin.

"How's she goin' b'y?"

It took Tobias a while to learn the language of Bretoner's, but he easily translated it now.

'_How's it going, boy' _He mentally thought.

"Alright, and you?"

"Polite, this one," The man spoke to his friend in the passenger seat. They all chuckled.

"Just wondering if I could give you a hand," He replied with a toothy grin. Tobias returned it. He had always had trouble with kindness, but with the citizens around Ingonish, he felt like the kindest person in the world. It just seemed normal to help someone out, here.

"Thanks for asking, but I'm fine," Tobias returned shoveling.

"I was going to ask that woman of yours if she needed help, but I was intimidated by you. Didn't want you to 'puck out my remaining seven teeth," The man gave a hearty laugh. He didn't look any older than thirty. He had blue eyes that sparkled when he laughed and a five 'o-clock shadow. It seemed like everyone had one around here.

Tobias what still grinning as he returned shoveling.

"Would 'ya like to come over to the hall in Baddeck this afternoon?" The man asked, approaching Tobias.

"Sure," Tobias grinned. "What time?"

"Three 'o-clock. Most of us will be there. Hope to see 'ya soon," The man said as he closed the door of his truck.

Slowly, he and the black truck disappeared.

When Tobias was done shoveling, he stepped inside his house.

"We've got a party to go to," He told Tris. "I was just talking to a man a minute ago, and he said we should go to the hall in Baddeck."

Tris arched an eyebrow. "Does this smell fishy to you?"

"In the summer, everything smells fishy," He grinned.

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When Tris and Tobias reached the hall, they were greeted by the man that Tobias was talking to earlier.

"I didn't tell you my name, b'y!" He said, clapping Tobias on the back.

"I'm John, and my friend right here is John also, and those girls over there are the Marys."

Tobias eyebrows knitted together in confusion: he couldn't tell if the man was joking or not. In answer, the man chuckled.

"I'm just kidding, his name is Brian and those girls- hell with it- I don't know their names. But, my name is actually John," He chuckled along with Tris.

"So, is this a community dance?" She asked John and Brian.

"You could call it that," Brian replied simply. Then he and John turned their attention to the stage where a man and a woman got up. The woman had leather shoes that seemed to amplify every step she took. The man had a weirdly strung instrument that he held up to his chin and strummed with a stick.

Neither Tris nor Tobias knew exactly what they were doing but it seemed fun and exuberant. They clapped along with the crowd as the woman stepped in an odd way and the man continued to strum his instrument.

"What exactly are they doing?" Tris whispered to John.

"You've never heard of a fiddle? I knew you were foreign, but not like this!"

"No, I don't know what the woman's doing either."

"She's stepping!"

"I know that!"

"Hey, Alec, hold 'yer bow!" John yelled suddenly to the fiddler. He did as he was told.

"This little lady 'don't know what 'yer doing and where were at!" There were gasps from the crowd, which consisted more of people that looked like they could be parents than people Tris' and Tobias' age.

"Get her up here, then," Alec told John.

John pushed Tris up to the stage to Alec and the woman.

"I'm Charlotte," the woman said.

"Tris," Tris said, shaking Charlotte's hand.

"City name, huh?" Charlotte said with a wink.

"This is a fiddle," Alec said, pointed to his instrument. Tris nodded. "And this, here-" He gestured to the crowd. "-is a Ceilidh!" The crowd screamed and whooped.

"Watch me carefully," Charlotte said as she clacked her heels. "Now you try."

With a small smile, Tris did try, but instantly failed and fell on the stage. Her face hot, she excepted Charlotte's arm to help her up.

Tobias and Tris walked to their truck after the Ceilidh.

"You should dance like that more often," Tobias said, as he kissed her on the cheek when they reached the truck.

"Yeah, no thanks."


	2. Fearless

Chapter two:

Sunlight filled the single bedroom of the cabin, awakening Tris. She got up and went into the shower.

Yawning loudly, she applied shampoo to her growing blonde hair. She thought about her Celildh last night. Her cheeks grew hot at the memory.

She remembered following Charlotte's steps and being pushed onstage by John because she didn't know what a fiddle was.

The memory seemed to be burned into her mind. She hoped she didn't have the same effect on other people.

Tris screamed wildly as shampoo dotted the corners of her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Tobias had yelled from the bedroom.

"Nothing, um, I'm fine!" Tris yelled back, jumping in the bathtub in pain. "Ahh!" Whacking her eyes, she found a facecloth.

When Tris got out, she was depressed to see another ten centimeters of snow had settled nicely on the porch. She groaned and got out the old aluminum shovel, stepping out the door.

She was surprised to see John standing there.

"Um, hello," Tris said kind of testily.

"Hello! How's she goin'?"

"Alright. You?"

"Oh my, you sound just like him!" John chuckled. "I didn't get 'yer name last night."

"Tris, and my boyfriend's name Tobias."

"City names, hey?"

"Sort of," Tris smiled. John smiled back.

"I didn't see any source of life in that house," John started with a wink. "So I decided to shovel this for 'ya."

"Awh, that's very sweet of you, John."

"Do 'ya have any kids?" John asked as he and Tris shoveled together.

"No, no, no. Definitely no." John chuckled.

"I have a little one at home. He's two. Name's Shane."

"That's so nice. Are you married?" Tris asked him as she mentally pictured Shane in her head. He probably was the same as John and was going to grow up like that. Handsome, caring and selfless.

He reminded Tris of Caleb. Caleb was so caring and handsome, just like John. John may not see it himself, but he's got real intelligence like Caleb. They were similar, but so different.

"Yes, actually, it's Charlotte, they one who tried to teach you how to step," John laughed again. Tris bit her lip, trying to keep a laugh from bleeding past her lips.

"She likes 'ya, though, Tris." Tris smiled.

"I sure hope so," She said as she threw another pile of snow over the railing.

"What made 'ya wanna come to Cape Breton in the first place?"

"We wanted to start over. It's a lot different over here. We couldn't take how our city was ran and the people in it," Tris started to explain. "Also, I made some pretty bad mistakes."

"Where's 'yer old man?" John said, leaning against his shovel.

"Who?" Tris wasn't picking up the 'language' as efficiently as Tobias.

"Your father," John said, ending his break.

"Well, one of my mistakes was leaving him. I left him when I was sixteen. I wanted different things than he wanted me to be," She said tears welling in her eyes. "But if I hadn't have left, I wouldn't be here, because I wouldn't have met Tobias."

"Well, maybe it wasn't that big of a mistake then," John said.

"No, it was. Because of it, he died for me, and I will never, ever forgive myself for that."

"But this is a new life, so it's time to forget."

"I don't think I can."

They shoveled in silence.

When they were done, Tobias came out. He was leaving for work.

Tobias was a teacher at the local elementary school. It was different, but he wanted to try something new. He was always smart, and he could be kind when he wanted to. He just struggled slightly.

"Hey, John!" He yelled as he stepped out of the door, closing it tightly behind him.

"Hey, Tobias, b'y!" Where do 'ya work now?"

"Cape Smokey Elementary."

"Really, now? 'Yer not just pulling my leg?"

"Really. I was – um- a teacher before. A gym teacher for high school students," Tobias said, unsure of his reply. Would John find out who they really were?

Tris had told him six thousand times that these were Grade Three children; nine year-olds. They weren't his initiates anymore, they were kids that he had to drill information into their heads, not just teach them how to fight.

Tobias stepped into his truck and set off with a wave.

"Well, I think we're done," John said, glancing at the clean step, Tris nodded.

"Thanks a lot, John. Without you Tobias would've been late for work. I don't need him the gossip around town too, after my fall yesterday."

John laughed. He was always laughing. He stepped into his pick-up and disappeared into the morning horizon.

Tris sighed, kicked her boots off and entered her house. She decided to bake a cake for Tobias.

"Mallory! But that down!" Tobias yelled to his student from half way across the room. "Why on earth do you have a ruler in your hand?"

"Well," Mallory started. She was a highly logical kid who seemed to come up with an excuse for everything. "Jacob was bugging me! He told me that my glasses make me look weird. Yeah, that's what he said.

"Did not!" Jacob yelled in defense.

"Did too!" Tobias rushed to the back of the classroom to separate the two screaming children.

"Why did you say that to Mallory?" Tobias asked Jacob calmly. He breathed in and out slowly, trying not to lose temper. Tris' voice filled his head. _'These aren't your initiates; you can't threaten them.' _

"I didn't! I told her that I would shove her in a closet if she didn't shut up .." Jacob's voice trailed off.

"Why did you lie?" Tobias said, turning on Mallory.

"Because I wanted him to get in more trouble than he would've if I told you the truth." She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He knows I have claustrophobia."

"I have claustrophobia." Tobias said quietly, thinking of the memory of him and Tris in the box in his fear landscape.

"Really?" Mallory asked. Her eyes were widened. "I thought you were fearless."

Tobias chuckled lightly, but got back on topic.

"Mallory, you're staying with me after school and I will be calling your parents. Jacob, you have to make sure all of the chairs are up for a week."

Mallory winced, but didn't say anything. Tobias then carried her desk to the other side of the room away from Jacob.

It was only ten thirty in the morning, and it was going to be a long day.


End file.
